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Former Transnet strategic manager Francis Callard has described how former group chief executive Brian Molefe unilaterally rejected his proposal to purchase a specific locomotive for coal hauling, opting instead for a Chinese manufacturer which was not fit to carry out the process.

Callard testified at the Zondo commission in Parktown on Friday.

The commission has heard from previous witnesses how Gupta-linked companies received significant so-called success fees for sealing Transnet’s deal with China South Rail.

Giving more details on how the deal came about, Callard says he argued in favour of buying the locomotives from Matsui - an already existing Transnet supplier.

Eyewitness News reporter Barry Bateman has more on the story.

The concern here was that they needed to get them urgently, and what we have heard from Francis Callard is that he put together a proposal that they should extend the contract which they already had with Matsui, which was a Japanese supplier which had already provided trains to Transnet.

— Barry Bateman, Reporter - EWN

We learnt today that the proposal was overruled unilaterally by former group chief executive Brian Molefe.

— Barry Bateman, Reporter - EWN

They simply deleted the points where he said the Chinese manufacturer was not a good choice.